Nico's Trip to the Orphange
by ravenpaw48
Summary: I would just continue to ignore Hawk-Eyes and get these kids to Camp. Easy, except for the fact that Hawk-eye is a cruel loser who wont let me out of her sight! Not to mention that there are so many kids I need to get out of this hell-hole. Easy.Not.
1. I Meet a Slapping Hawk

Chapter one:

Nico's POV

I carefully ignored the nagging voice of "my" astounded "foster mother". She was a tall woman with hawk-like eyes and wispy brown hair. Her lips were narrow and looked like they were frozen into a vicious frown. I flipped my dark bangs out of my eyes and sighed. I wished I would have never volunteered for this job.

You see, two nights ago Chiron had had a meeting that required all of the senior campers to attend. I had gone to the very back of the Big House and sat down preparing to ignore the whole thing unless they said something interesting."So we have BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH orphan demigods BLAH BLAH enough campers BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH any volunteers?" Yeah, that's all I heard of Chiron's speech, but because I was so utterly bored of doing nothing new or interesting at camp, I found myself raising my hand. I had looked around the room to find myself and three others. Percy (duh), Annabeth (duh), and Grover. Chiron had cleared his horsey throat here."Mr. Underwood you are already stationed at a school in Los Vegas. Mr. Jackson you're not allowed to participate in camp activities due to that last prank you pulled on the Aphrodite Cabin. Ms. Chase you have to stay behind to make sure Percy stays on his grounding. Mr. Di Angelo you are our lucky volunteer."

So it had turned out that there weren't enough satyrs to check all of the schools and orphanages too, so they needed poor unfortunate half-bloods to do that for them. I had gotten shipped off in a black minivan to an Orphanage in New York.

The building my "foster mother" is leading me into is a tall winding building with only two, maybe three windows. It's dark and scary. I am gonna like it. Being a Son of Hades did that to you. You begin to like things that everybody else is terrified of.

Hawk-Eyes led me into the orphanage. The floors had this wooden, right out of a Horror movie, feel to it. They moaned and groaned with every step. The wallpaper was peeling so the molding yellow paper fit right in with the air of the house. How could little kids live her?

Hawk-Eyes turned to me her, black eyes flashing." There are rules in this household and I expect them to be followed. Rule Number One; you will only answer me with a yes madam or no madam. None of the traditional teenager attitude will be allowed here! Rule Number two; you will wake up at 5:00 a.m. sharp everyday to begin your morning chores. Late and there will be severe punishment! (She snorted here)Rule Number three; you will NOT speak unless asked to. Am I clear?" she sneered in my face.

"Yep." I muttered. Then I felt a sharp sting on my face. She slapped me. She put her hand on her bulging hip and tapped her foot. "Excuse me?" she yelled. I lifted my chin giving her my famous go to the Underworld glare. I don't know why I was so pissed at that puny slap. It had barely hurt. I guess it was the reason. I very rarely gave people the respect of calling them "madam" or "sir". Maybe Chiron, but definitely not some witchy chick I had just met.

She lifted her hand threatingly. _Go on. Slap me again, _I thought. She did. I took a deep breath and folded my arm across my chest. "You will obey me or I will send you out on the streets!" she threatened me. I couldn't fail my first lone quest. What choices did I have? Go to camp a failure or suck up my pride and obey Hawk-Eyes.

"Yes Madam." I said with absolutely no respect in my voice. Only defiance. We had a glare off for a second longer until she pointed to the stairs."You will sleep with the other children. Last room on the left." she informed me. "Any more disrespect and I will give you a REAL punishment."I resisted the urge to snort here.

I jogged up the creaking stairs and turned to the left into an eerie hallway. It was the same yellow wallpaper but this one was covered with old scary people's pictures. All of the pictures had the same hawky eyes; wispy brown hair has Madam Hawk-Eyes. Again; how could little kids live here?

I hurried down the hall until I reached a dead end. There was a rotting door with old yellow pictures of the sun, trees, and flowers. I quietly opened the door to find about 4 little kids sleeping in one small, lumpy bed. There were two bigger lumps on the wooden floor next to the bed. I softly closed the door and walked to the corner of the room.

I sat down and leaned my head against the wall. There I fell asleep to the soft, muffled snores of the other kids in the room.


	2. I Lie for a Screaming Girl

Chapter Two:

Nico's POV

When my eyes finally fluttered open it wasn't to the sounds I was expecting. A chilling scream was piercing the air. With my ADHD I was up on my feet in seconds with my eyes darting around the room looking for the monster. It took me a second to find the person screaming. It was the little lumps of kids' I had seen on the floor last night.

The little girl had her small mouth opened wide to let out the rippling scream she was producing. She had rosy cheeks, big light green eyes, and long knotted light brown hair that went to her waist. I took a careful step forward with my hands up to show I wasn't going to hurt her, when I stepped on the other lump on the floor._ Real smooth Nico, I thought._

This lump was male and he didn't scream, thank the gods. He looked at me and turned his head towards the girl."Quiet Hope. You'll wake up Mrs. Madam." He whispered soothingly to the little girl who immediately shut her trap.

This boy had shaggy brown hair and looked to be at least 13. He raised his thick eyebrows at me questionably. I was fixing to explain things to him when we heard pounding foot step jogging up the rotting stairs.

The boy got up and woke the kids on the lumpy bed who all got on the floor with their backs towards me. They stood up straight and flinched when Hawk-Eyes slammed the door open.

"WHO WAS SCREAMING?" she screeched at us. She was an uglier sight then I remembered. She was wearing a tattered and stained nightgown and her already ugly hair was piled on top of her head into an ugly trashy pile of brown junk. The little girl, who I assumed was Hope, very timidly raised her trembling hand." And why were you doing such a rude thing?" Hawk-Eyes demanded in a not so nice tone. Hope pointed her trembling hand at me. Hawk-Eyes flashed her eyes towards me and glared at me. _Traitor, I thought. _

What had I really done? I woke up! That's about all! There was no need to go pointing fingers at me." And why, Di Angelo, did you cause her to scream at such an untimely hour?" she said in a voice worthy of Kronos himself. I was not going to let her push me around like Hope did, so I stood up and jutted my chin out defiantly and stared at her. (I was saving my death-glare for later) "I woke up. That's about all I did since I got in this hell-hole." I replied angrily.

I wasn't going to get the others in trouble so I didn't mention that Hope had been the one to wake me up screaming while I was still asleep. "You will not use that tone with ME! Apologize!" she screamed again. No way was I going to apologize to that thing. So I said;

"No."

She slapped me. I didn't even move my head or flinch. I heard startled and surprised gasps come from the kids in front of me. That slap had actually had some power behind it. I was probably going to have some bruises." Now apologize!' she said smugly like she thought she had done something horrible to me. I had had pinches that hurt worse than that. (Thalia has some major finger muscles)So I let my teenager hormones take over.

"Not until you do!' I said with tones of smart-ass-ness flowing like waves into my voice. She grabbed me by the ear and brought my head down to her smelly feet." I'm an adult! You will respect me!" she said she was literally shaking the house with her voice. I didn't know if it was all of her voice though…. This house was really moldy."All I did was wake up this morning!" I screeched just has loudly.

She let go of my ear and pushed me towards the wall roughly." Oh, so Hope here just screamed at the sight of you. That changes things." She said steely. She reached into the front pocket of her nightdress and brought out a brightly colored, foldable ruler and turned towards Hope, who timidly pulled her hand out in front of her.

I gasped when I saw the state of Hope's hand. It looked like an oil spill had splashed her cream colored hand with purple and black gook. It took me a second to realize they were bruises and what had caused them to appear.

What I did next was completely shocking to me and everyone else in the room too. I did something that Sons of Hades never did. I lied for someone else's benefit. "NO! Wait! I did do something to make her scream! I threw my shoe at her! She had perfect reasoning to scream." I practically yelled at Hawk-Eyes.

Hope turned her green gaze towards me. Her eyes were huge with shock at what I had just done. The brown-haired boy did the same only his gaze was more questioning then Hope's. The other children were switching their gazes between Hope and me too. But my gaze was still locked on Hawk-Eyes.

I was pretty sure she wasn't a monster, but I still had a few doubts. She was scary enough to be one. But her eyes weren't . . . evil enough. They just looked like pure meanness. "Is that so?" she sneered at me."Then you don't get dinner today because of the rude show you pulled on this should have been, fun morning and you don't get dinner tomorrow because you lied!" I felt my jaw slackening, getting ready to drop, but I tightened it just before it could fall. I wasn't going to show her how much that punishment got to me. I would pretend that everything was fine, like Dora I would pretend that everything was fun and happy.

But I didn't fool Hawk-Eyes. They way she looked at me proved it. Her whole face was set into smugness." And, to make sure you don't sneak food or are GIVEN any you have to stay in this room until your punishment is over." She added. Great. I was planning to sneak food out of the kitchen, even though I had no clue where it was. Now, thanks to Hawky I would have to go through with this punishment.

With that glorious last statement she twirled out of room and stomped off down the hall. I turned around with my head hanging and sat in the corner I had just slept in. The other kids stood still for a moment. Taking in the scenes that had just happened before them, I assumed, until they finally went out of the room and did whatever crazy thing Hawk-Eyes thought of.

I had only been here a couple of hours and I was already in deep trouble. The possible demigods haven't even said a word to me and I was gonna have to starve for two days. This quest was going great.


	3. The Starving Meets the Proud

**A/N Thanks to everybody who reviewed! It may not seem like it but I am trying to use your comments and critiques in the story! THX AGAIN!**

Chapter Three:

Nico's POV

My stomach was already protesting. It had only been a few hours since my punishment, but my stomach was growling and howling for food. I sighed. Acting like Dora was going to be harder than I thought it was gonna be.

I hadn't heard or seen anything of the other kids since they left this morning. It was kind of ….freaky. In a house with six kids it shouldn't be this quiet. There should at least be a sound of some kind, footsteps, and voices anything! But not in this house there was only silence. Zip .Nada. Nothing.

Bored of just sitting in that damp corner, I walked over to the other side of the room to look around. The bed had two raggedy blankets with tears and holes covering it. I dragged my feet has I walked towards the closet. I reached forward and grabbed the iron doorknob. I flung the door open with all of my strength. I let out a low whistle when I peered into the closet. There was absolutely, without a doubt, nothing in it. I felt bad for the kids even though I hadn't even said a word to them. From the looks of the room, they only owned what was on their backs.

Sighing, I slumped over to my corner. I let my head fall back against the floor and I popped my knees up. I didn't have anything better to do, so I closed my eyes and willed unconsciousness to find me.

When I forced my eyes open, a warm piece of golden bread fell onto my lap. I sat up with a bolt and turned my head to find Hope standing a few feet away from me. The other children were staring at me. I looked at Hope and picked up the warm bread. Even though my stomach was growling like a hungry lion, I couldn't let Hope get in trouble.

"Here take it."I mumbled" you'll get in trouble for giving me this." I held the bread out gesturing for her to take it.

"No. You should keep it. You deserve it." The brown haired boy told me, stepping in front of Hope.

"What did I do?" I mean really, I hadn't done anything that surprising. I mean yeah, I got in trouble for Hope, but at camp people would take the blame for others all the time. We take knives and arrows for each other sometimes.

"You lied to keep Hope out of trouble!" The brown haired boy sounded honestly astounded."Oh by the way, I'm Peter."

"She didn't deserve to get punished!" I gestured towards Hope has I was speaking. Hope honestly hadn't done anything. I had just startled her.

"Neither did you!" Peter started to slowly shake his head. "Just eat the bread. We all know you want it. While you're eating I'll tell you about the rest of us."

I didn't need to be told again. I all but stuffed the, now cold, bread into my mouth. It tasted wonderful. Peter pointed at the proud looking girl who was sitting on the bed staring at me. She looked to be about 11.

"She's Miranda."

Miranda had short blonde hair that went just below her chin. Her startling gray eyes flashed towards us when we said her name. She reminded me of Annabeth.

"That's Zane."

Peter, again, pointed towards a small black-haired boy with dark eyes. He was probably 7.

"That's Erin"

This time the little girl turned towards us and smiled. She had darker hair than Hope and electric blue eyes. She was definitely 5. She still had those pudgy cheeks of a little kid.

"And last, but not least, that's Lexxi."

She was tan and had dirty blonde hair and startling green eyes. She was probably about five too. She was smaller than Erin though.

"So ….. What is your name?" Peter asked after an awkward silence.

"Oh! Sorry! I'm Nico Di Angelo." I said stupidly. Man, I was acting so stupid! I was still in sleep mode, I guess.

"Well, Nico, you should probably go back to sleep. The first morning is always the hardest."

I stared at Peter confused, and then I remembered one of Hawk-Eye's rules. We had to get up at 5:00 a.m.! I groaned out loud. The earliest I ever wake up is 10:00! Miranda giggled at my expression.

"It gets easier! Trust me." She even sounded like Annabeth. Superior and proud.

I heard one of the younger kids mutter something that sounded like "liar". I'm pretty sure it was Zane.

I was shuffling towards my corner when Hawk-Eyes zoomed into our room. _Oh great, I thought._ I was beginning to really hate this lady.

"Tomorrow I expect you to do your chores Di Angelo! I will not accept laziness in this house! You are acting like you've had everything given to you before! Maybe you should learn some responsibility! What did your parents teach you!" she had her boney finger pressed against my chest and my back against the wall.

What she said hurt me. Well the last sentence did, she could rant on about my laziness all she wanted. I couldn't care less. But family was a tough subject for me. I closed my eyes for a second and took three deep breaths. I wouldn't blow up this time.

"You told me to stay in this freaking room!" I barely raised my voice.

"I NEVER told you not to do your chores!" she screamed at me louder.

"You never said do them!" I yelled louder than her. I was in her face now. My eyes were already giving her one of my best death glares.

"Don't get smart with me!" She poked her finger at my chest again. I swiped it away and said something that really shocked me.

"You're NOT my mother."

"You're here because your family DOESN'T care! They left you! You have nowhere to go, but here!"

I was blinking back tears now. Those words hurt me worse than any slap or sword or arrow possibly could. Flashbacks were flashing through my mind. Bianca leaving me to join the Hunters. How Hades hadn't shown me any sign that I exist since the war.

I was tempted to call it quits, right then and there. Go back to camp a failure. Fine, I could deal with that. It would be easy getting there alone. Hawk-Eyes probably wouldn't even try and stop me. But, I saw the scared gazes of Hope, Peter, Zane, Miranda, and Erin. I couldn't just leave them here. They deserve better than this. Heck, nobody deserved this living hell.

I pulled myself together enough to put my death glare into action. (They come to me easily.)I folded my arms across my chest and took one more deep breath to make sure my voice didn't squeak.

"My parents died in a car crash. My sister joined the army and THEN she died. You don't know that they didn't care! I will not listen to your bull about my family when you don't even know their names! "I was screeching towards the end but at least I wasn't squeaking. I was telling her my cover story that Chiron and I had agreed on. It was the closest to the truth we could think of.

Hawk-Eyes looked stumped for a second and then she took a couple of steps back, and addressed all of us.

"Your possible new parents are coming in three days. I want this house spot-less! Not a speck of dust! Di Angelo, you are off of your punishment until they leave. After that you have an extra day added." She was back into a smug mood now. I really hate that face.

Hawky was starting to turn out of the room when her eyes bulged out.

"What's that?" she demanded pointing at my waist towards my cell phone case.

Uh-oh…. That wasn't just any cell phone case. I didn't even own a cell-phone. It was my sword's sheath. If you opened it my short, black sword would pop into your hand. And from the way Hawk-Eyes was looking at it, she wanted to have it in her oily hands.


	4. Why do SnakeThings always Find Me?

**A/N I didn't really like the last chapter so I will make this one more interesting. Hope you enjoy! Reviews appreciated!**

Chapter Four:

Nico's POV

My hand instinctively went to me cell phone case, and I took a step away from Hawk-Eyes. I couldn't just hand her the only weapon I had brought. If all of these kids were a demigods, which was highly unlikely, we were bound to meet a monster on the way. Even if my sword would just come back to me, like Percy's, she was bound to open it. And there was no way I could explain why I had a weapon with me. Why did she even care that I had a cell phone?

Hawk-Eyes held her hand out to me, obviously expecting me to hand it over. I needed time to think of a way to keep my phone in my hand so I continued my stubborn attitude.

"Why do you care about that?" I said gesturing towards my case.

She did a double-take. It looked like she thought I had a limit to my smartass-ness. I was a Son of Hades, of course I didn't!

"You are being punished," she said after a minute." You have no right to that phone until you behave yourself!"

Bang! An idea zoomed into my head. I would look like an idiot but it just might work….

I sighed pretending to give in. I grabbed the case and pretended to tug at it has hard as I could. Everybody was staring at my left hand yanking at the case. My plan was working so far. I used my right hand to slyly reach into my back pocket and pulled out my IPod. I tossed the IPod onto the ground and pretended that it had all of a sudden fallen out of the case. I leaned down and picked it up.

"There. Happy?" I said has I gave it to Hawk-Eyes. She studied it precariously. She looked completely stumped. I suppressed a laugh. She didn't know what it was!

".." I said making each word slow and deliberate. Zane snickered.

"Oh… well go to bed! Remember SPOTLESS!" she said.

"Yes, Mrs. Madam!" the other kids chorused. Of course, I didn't. She glared at me for a minute then, taking my IPod with her, stomped out into the hall. Once we were sure she wouldn't here us, Zane burst out laughing. Miranda was shaking her golden head at me.

"What?" I asked. What had I done that had been funny?

"You!" Zane said between laughs. By now Erin and Lexxi were laughing too.

"You looked like an idiot when you were getting the IPod!" Lexxi added.

Miranda looked at me for a second suspiciously. She pointed her finger at me.

"That was all a show. You never even opened the case. You just got the IPod out of your back pocket. "She paused to let it sink in." Very tricky. I wouldn't have noticed except that you weren't using BOTH hands to get the "cell phone" out of the case."

Uh-Oh, I hope she isn't a tattletale. If she acts like Annabeth has much as she looks like her than she is one. Seeing my expression though, she raised her hands innocently.

"I'm not a tattle-tale. I just thought you should know just in case you ever need to do that again. We don't want anyone to get caught."

"Thanks." I mumbled. At least I don't have to worry about getting ratted on from now on.

"What was on your IPod? " Zane asked me. I pointed to my gray Metallica T-shirt.

"Well they were, until Percy and Annabeth put loads of Demi Lovatto, Selena Gomez, and Justin Beiber on it. It's utterly disgusting now." I explained to him. That caused him to fall on the floor giggling again.

"Whose Annabeth and Percy?" asked Erin. She had her small face pulled into a confused mask but I could still see the bubbly little girl there.

"They're some of my best friends at this summer camp I go to."

"Oh. I wish I could go to a summer camp…" she said dreamily.

"Maybe you could go to mine someday." She snorted.

"Mrs. Madam never lets us leave this house unless we are going to school!"

"Have you ever tried?" I asked walking towards the only window in the room.

"No" she said simply. I was surprised. They had even never tried to leave.

"Well," I said while sticking my head out of the window." That can always change." I jumped out the window at the last word. It wasn't that high but there was still a jolt when I landed roughly on the cement. I looked up to see six little heads poking out of the window.

If witnessing my rebellion was what it needed for them to realize that they deserved better than this, then so be it. I wasn't sure which ones were demigods, but they all were going to get out of that house with my help.

I walked down the gloomy streets. I was planning on going back a couple of hours later, when they were all asleep. Enough time to show them that the outside world was fine. Maybe I'd bring them something back. Candy, probably. I had ten dollars. I turned a corner and looked around for a store.

There was a Wal-Mart a couple of meters away. The blue letters were impossible to miss. I was more than half way there, when I felt a chilling hand on my shoulder. My hand reached down and opened up the cell-phone case. When I brought up my hand my short, black sword was firmly held. I turned my head and saw the yellow, merciless eyes of a _dracaenae_.

I quickly dropped into a crouch and swung my sword towards the creature's snaky legs. I missed. I felt a sharp sting on my cheek. The _dracaenae _had got my face with her dagger. Great. I stumbled backwards, and started muttering Ancient Greek words. I was calling in reinforcements. Three black shadows sprouted from the ground and charged at the _dracaenae _along with me.

The shadows went in on the sides and used their spears to distract the creature while I brought my sword down into the _dracaena's_ chest. Before she died like a good little monster, she nipped my shoulder with her dagger. I twisted my sword that was still embedded in her chest until she finally melted into yellow dust and blew away with the breeze. Good riddance.

I was exhausted. My wounds stung a lot worse than they should of. I brought up my shoulder and gave it a good sniff and immediately recoiled. Poison. My mind started to black in and out as I stumbled towards the side of the sidewalk. I fell. The last thing I remembered seeing was a familiar flash of electric blue eyes.


	5. Peter meets a Huge Dog

**A/N Ok I need some major help. I'm completely stuck. I want them to start traveling to camp-half blood soon, but I can't come up with a cool and interesting idea that makes sense! PLZ HELP ME!**

Nico's POV

When I finally came to, I was shocked to find that I was in some dark, stony alley way. Even more shocking, was that Thalia was sitting next to me. She shoved me playfully when she saw that I had opened my eyes.

"You are a complete and total idiot, Corpse Breath." She said rolling her eyes at me. Well at least she was happy enough to use the nickname she and Annabeth had thought of.

"You ok?" she asked, serious this time.

My head hurt and my face and shoulder ached, but other than that, I was fine. I put my hand on my face and found that it was soaking wet with nectar. So was my shoulder.

"I'm fine. What are you doing here, anyway?" my voice sounded weird to me. Rough, I guess is the way I should describe it. I looked Thalia over. She was wearing black skinny-jeans, a camouflage T-shirt and black Converse. She had her black hair tied back in two short and spiky pigtails at the side of her head.

She looked different then I remembered from the last time the Huntress had visited. Then it hit me. She didn't have the lieutenant silver circlet on her head.

"It's none of your business!" she snarled at me," what are YOU doing here?" Two could play at that game.

"It's none of YOUR business." I said as I smirked.

She looked really mad. Then, she shook her head and stood up. She offered her hand to help me get up. I took it, Man, I was stiff! She laughed at my expression.

"Where are you heading?" she asked, pushing our earlier spat to the side.

I looked at the sky and saw a few pink and orange rays of sunshine flashing at the horizon. I needed to hurry home. It would take me at least an hour to get back to that creepy orphanage. I decided to tell Thalia the truth.

"I have to go and watch potential half-bloods at this freaky orphanage."

"Oh. Well… I'll see ya when you get back."

"Tell Perce hi for me."

"Ok."

And with that we both walked down the alley and back onto the streets. Neither one of us said a word when, an hour later, I turned down a street and Thalia kept walking straight. That's something I liked about Thalia. She was fine with just your company, you didn't have to talk.

When I finally, found the orphanage, I let out a sigh of relief. The kids had left the window open. I ran across the yellow grass and swung my leg around a rotting tree that was closest to the window. I pulled myself up and groaned. My freaking shoulder hurt. It would take me a while to reach the window. I didn't have that much time left. It was already way passed 5:00.

I sighed and reached forward towards the next branch with my good arm, and was startled to feel the warmth of another hand meet it.

I forced my head to look up and saw the worried face of Peter. He had climbed from the window and into the tree.

"Thanks" I mumbled as I used his hand to help me get up. Peter nodded in acknowledgment.

"Where did you go? What happened to your face and shoulder?"

Uh-Oh. What should I tell him? I got mugged? No. Peter was smart enough to know I wasn't telling the truth. Maybe….. The truth? If he had had the life that most demigods have, then he might believe me. Or he might think I was crazy. Well I couldn't think of a lie, so he might has well know the truth. Even if he thought I was crazy.

"You know about those Greek myths and stuff?" I started lamely.

"Like Zeus and Hades?"  
Thunder rolled behind us even though the, now sunny sky, was crystal clear.

"Umm yeah don't use any specific names though." I warned him." Well I'm one of Hades' kids and you and the others are possibly kids of some of the other gods."

We were almost to the window now. Peter was close enough to reach it. He looked down at me like I was crazy. Then his eyes got huge with shock. Already regretting it, I looked down too.

Well, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. It was only a hellhound, and since I was a son of Hades, I wasn't particularly worried. Hellhounds normally liked me. I shifted in the tree so that I was facing the giant black creature.

"It's ok Peter. This is a hellhound." I informed him

I motioned for him to come down a little. In a couple of seconds I heard the rustle of leaves as he obeyed. I reached my hand down and pet the snarling beast. It immediately stopped. I gave it a good scratch and looked at Peter's face. It was priceless. He looked like he had three faces in one. A third of him shocked a third of him accepting, and another third of him drooling stupidly. I hoped I hadn't looked like that when I saw my first monster.

"Now you believe me?" I asked with a little smugness. HE nodded once.

"Go home." I told the hellhound after I was sure Peter honestly believed me. It whimpered once and ran down the street towards the shadows. Peter and I both simultaneously started climbing the tree again until we finally reached the window. Peter swung himself across easily, using his hands to help him push off. There was no way was gonna look that graceful. I got in position and pushed off hard with my legs. For a couple of terrorizing seconds I thought I had jumped short, but I was gladly mistaken. I landed in a painful tangle of legs and arms on the hard floor. My retarded shoulder was still hurting. I guess Thalia hadn't put enough nectar on it.

"I can't believe this. I'm part god." Peter almost screamed.

"Yep. Trust me though, it's not that exciting. It normally just gets you killed." I know I sounded like a party-pooper, but the kid had the right to know the truth. It didn't affect Peter though.

"So I get to have a cool sword and fight stuff?" then his face took on a serious expression." Who's my parent?"

"I don't know."

"Why not? "He said indignantly. He had accepted the fact that he was a half-blood a lot easier than I expected. Normally, new ones called you loads of names referring to your brain and then they ran away and you had to chase them. Again.

"Well… the gods are always busy, but once we get to camp they normally will claim you in about three days. Once you're claimed you go to your cabin. Everybody in your cabin will have the same god parent, and then you get to train."

He paused for a second taking in what I had told him. Then he looked at me suspiciously.

"Who's YOUR god parent?"

Why do they always ask that question? It's not like I'm not proud to be a Son of Hades, because I am, but after I tell people or they find out I get treated… differently, like I'm some kind of outcast because I didn't jump up and down in glee every time I win something. I looked at Peter doubtfully and sighed.

"Hades is my dad." I told him simply.

I closed my eyes and waited for some kind of reaction.

"Sweet! When can we go to this camp anyway?"

I looked at him like was a freak. That was definitely NOT the reaction I expected. Well, it was better than what I normally get so I went with it.

"Well I'm kind of working on that. If all of you are half-bloods then it's going to be really hard to get you there…" Peter looked up with a new urgency in his eyes.

"What about the ones that aren't d-demigods? "He seemed to have a hard time saying that word I couldn't really blame him.

"Then I'll find somewhere else for them to go." I said firmly. HE seemed really relived at that. We heard little foot-steps patter up the stairs. They obviously weren't Hawk-Eyes so I didn't have to worry about my appearance. My shirt had blood spatters all around my shoulder. We would have to do something about that…

Lexxi stumbled in and skidded to a halt when she saw me. Her green eyes lit up and she ran to hug me. Awkward, I wasn't really used to getting hugged.

"I thought you had run away without us!" she said after she released me from her assault. Her eyes got huge when she saw the blood on my shirt, but she didn't question me…Yet.

"Nah, I just needed to have some time to think." I lied smoothly. She nodded once and looked at me and Peter worriedly.

"Mrs. Madam is really, really mad. You should do your chores now. And ummm… by the way Nico, you should find a way to fix your shirt."

I looked at her awkwardly. Hawk-Eyes hadn't noticed my absence? Lexxi seemed to understand my expression.

"Oh, we have been saying you've been helping Peter sew the blankets together. Mrs. Madam rarely goes into this room, so it was the safest room to say you was in… just in case you came back" she informed me. Awkward again, she said 'this room' not her room or our room.

Peter seemed lost in thought when Lexxi said good-bye and scampered out of the room.

"I know how we can solve the shirt problem! Come on!" he exclaimed dragging me along with him.


	6. Plan Ideas

**A/N Sorry it took so long. It seemed like every time I would get ready to write up this chapter I would get grounded or the computer was having problems. The next one will be coming out soon.**

Nico's POV

Chapter Six

I soon found me self being roughly dragged out of the room and deeper into the hell-house by Lexxi and Peter. They whipped around corners and made many twist and turns until we stopped in front of Zane.

Zane saw me and his dark eyes widened in shock, but at least he refrained from hugging me unlike a certain someone. He was on his knees with a once-yellow-now-green-and -gray-sponge in his hand and a blue plastic bucket with, from the smell of it, straight bleach in it.

"Can we borrow the bucket, Zane?" asked Peter, with an almost commanding note in his voice. Zane nodded but continued to look at me.

Peter grabbed the bucket and poured it carefully on my shirt. My poor Metallica T-shirt was now coved in white blotches, but at least you couldn't tell there had been blood there.

"Thanks guys" I told them actually thankful. I don't know how I could have explained the blood to Hawk-Eyes.

We stood there awkwardly looking at each other with reproachful expressions. Until finally Peter turned around and almost immediately Zane and Lexxi turned like Peter. I couldn't figure out why until I heard the thundering footsteps too. I placed myself behind Lexxi and Zane and successfully put on a tired expression, like I had been up doing chores all day. I guess I looked like I thought I did because when Hawky hauled herself in front of us she glanced in my direction and smirked evilly. Then she saw my shirt.

"WHAT HAPPENED?" Hawk-Eyes shrieked at us, covering each of us with spit. With my mad lying skills, I quickly came up with a story.

"Peter and I were looking for some more needles to sew the blankets and I tripped and fell on the bucket." I said evenly. The others obviously understood because they didn't show any sign of confusion. Hawky rolled her eyes and hissed a threat, but I want really paying her any attention.

After she left, I spent the rest of the working with the others. I didn't complain much because I was too busy thinking of ways to get out of here. I couldn't just walk out of here with all the kids and walk there. Camp was way too far away for that. I could shadow travel, but I knew couldn't get all of us there at the same time and there was no way I could get us too camp in one travel. I wasn't powerful enough for that, yet. It was all so screwed up I wanted to scream!

I sighed as we finally settled down to sleep for the night. Peter, who was lying next to me, raised his thick eyebrows questionly. The others all seemed to be asleep so I told him in a whisper.

"Trying to think of ways to get you guys out of here."

"What have you come up with so far?" he asked.

"Well the only plan that has any potential is me shadow traveling you guys as close to camp as I can get you. But I can only take one of you at a time to get as close as I can and I might be out of it for a while afterward."

"What's shadow traveling?" he asked questioningly.

"I manipulate the shadows to where the teleport me to wherever I need to go."

"How close could you get us?"

"About thirty miles from camp." I answered.

"Oh, well then I got nothing. " He said sadly. I sighed again. I was hoping he could come up with something.

"-but I know someone who might." He finished.

**A/N WAY TOO SHORT! I just couldn't think of a way to end this chapter to save my life but the next one should be up soon. Sorry it so short!**


	7. Wonderful Plans

Peter grinned at me and lightly walked over to Miranda. I got up and followed, understanding what he was thinking. He lightly shook Miranda and called her name.

She woke up glaring.

"What in the world do you think you are doing?" she yell-whispered.

"Waking you up?" I replied. She hit me and Peter rolled his eyes.

"We need to tell you something…" he started." Well you see, umm well, were like part god and we need to get out of here."

Seriously? I mean really, I had kind of gotten the feeling that he was almost like the leader of the group.

"Okaaaay… I'm gonna go to sleep now." Miranda said while starting to snuggle up in her blanket again.

"Miranda, listen to me for just a second. Have you ever been attacked by some weird people or animals?" I said. She gave me an are-you-really-gonna-keep-this-up-glare but, I could see the touch of fear that flowed into her eyes.

" I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that you have to move from foster home to foster home a lot? Cause some weird lawyer dude comes and does some legal crap and makes you all move?"

Miranda stared at me cautiously as she started to sit up again. Peter was staring at me with round, shocked brown eyes so, I figured I had hit the jack-pot.

"Well that's probably 'cause your god parent has a heart and sends someone to get ya'll out of there when monsters are coming." I finished. I hoped my speech had fixed her up and she would listen to us now.

"So you're saying I, Miranda Raeann Jones, am a demigod? A half-human –half god? A hero?" She asked me really fast. I grinned at her, seeing that she was starting to believe.

"Yep."

"For real? This isn't a dream?"

"No dream."

"Oh god!"

"Oh GODS" I corrected just to add to the weird feeling in the air. She started breathing kind of hard, but her eyes stormy eyes were starting to fill with true excitement. I shared a quick victory glance with Peter and waited for Miranda to be able to think straight.

After a few seconds her face took on a serious and determined look that seemed to naturally belong there.

"Why is it that you told me this now? How can it help us?" she asked.

"We need to get all of us out of here and to Camp Half-Blood." I said. Her face scrunched up in thought.

"Can you do anything special? Like run super fast or fly?"

I stuck my tongue out in disgust and folded my arms across my chest.

"No, but I can shadow travel which is SO much cooler than flying! What do you think I am? A son of Zeus?" I yelped indignantly. Again, seriously girl, what's your problem!

"Well then, who IS your godly parent?" Miranda said slightly defensive." And what's "shadow travel?"

"I'm a son of Hades and proud of it. And what do YOU think shadow traveling is." I said sarcastically. This girl was seriously getting on my nerves. She was supposed to be like Annabeth, which means smart! Peter gave me a warning look.

"Please Miranda? We need you to help us. Neither of us can figure out a really smart and good plan that'll actually work. But I know you can 'cause you're really smart." begged Peter. I barely resisted the urge to snort at him.

" You're right neither of you are smart enough to figure any kind of plan out and the only reason I'm going to help you , is because this affects all us, including Lexxi, Hope, and Zane." She huffed like Annabeth does when she gives a "I'm smarter than all of you but I am still going to help the less intelligent" speech.

"How far can you shadow travel and how far is the camp?"

"I can get us about thirty miles away from Camp Half-Blood but that's only with one of you at a time and I can only travel there and back once a night." I said trying not to set her off. Peter gave me an approving glance.

"That would take too long, and Mrs. Madam would never let us just walk out…" she said mostly to herself. I was going to roll my eyes, but Peter elbowed me to stop it from happening. Miranda sat silently for a while, leaving Peter and I to rack our brains for ideas.

"Is the Underworld real?" she asked me.

"I tell you I'm a son of Hades and you still OUCH… yes, yes it's real." I said while glaring at Peter. That dude could seriously elbow.

"Well, aren't there supposed to be entrances to the Underworld, like, everywhere?" she asked, like I should have already thought of that, which I probably should of.

"Well, yeah…" I said not understanding what she was getting at.

"Well if we travel through the Underworld and get as close to the camp as possible , you can shadow travel us even, closer maybe all the way there." She said like that brown haired chick off of Harry Potter, Hermwhinie or whatever her name was.

"But the closest entrance to the Underworld is in Central Park, and I doubt Hawk-Eyes will let us go have a morning stroll there." I said.

"How many can you shadow travel there?"

"Four maybe five." I said thinking about the short distance. I wasn't strong enough to get us all there, and I would be pushing it at five.

"Well then, were screwed." Miranda said simply and lay down again. Peter and I sat for a second in shock. Miranda must have noticed that we hadn't moved because she said;

" I'll sleep on it, that's all I can give you."

And on that happy note she rolled over and promptly fell asleep.


End file.
